A lot of taxpayers in Guilford County feel like county leaders could use some help running things and the county is going to give AI a try.
Guilford County government is preparing to give 50 county employees Microsoft Copilot licenses as part of an amendment to the county’s existing massive Microsoft software agreement.
County staff are asking commissioners to approve an additional $212,800 in annual Microsoft software costs through SHI International Corp. – the company that handles the county’s Microsoft Enterprise Agreement.
About $18,500 of the total is for the county’s new artificial intelligence experiment. The county plans to purchase 50 Microsoft 365 Copilot Government Community Cloud licenses at $369 each for the period from Oct. 1, 2026 through Sept. 30, 2027.
Copilot will be used to determine where artificial intelligence can most effectively improve county government’s “efficiency, decision-making and service delivery.”
The county hasn’t said in the agenda materials for its first meeting in September which employees or departments will receive the 50 licenses or exactly what types of work they’ll be asked to perform with the AI software.
The larger part of the amendment – $194,389.40 – will pay for 3,470 Microsoft 365 G5 eDiscovery and Audit Government Community Cloud licenses. The county began testing the eDiscovery software during the 2025-2026 fiscal year as a way to improve its ability to locate, preserve and review electronic records.
County officials say the software can, among other things, assist with records retention, public records requests, legal discovery and auditing. Those capabilities are becoming increasingly important for local governments, which create and store huge amounts of information electronically through emails, documents and other computer systems.
County staff said implementation of the eDiscovery system and development of its workflows are still underway – but staff members believe Microsoft’s platform currently offers the best option for the county’s needs while maintaining an appropriate level of security and accuracy.
Extending the software for another year will allow the county to continue the pilot, develop standardized procedures and evaluate whether it improves the identification, review and production of electronic records.
The new spending will be on top of an already substantial Microsoft contract.
The commissioners approved the county’s current three-year Microsoft Enterprise Agreement in September 2024 at an annual cost of $1,387,000.
That agreement includes Microsoft Office 365 as well as the Windows desktop operating system, Windows Server, Power BI Pro, Visio Pro and other Microsoft products that are used throughout county government.
The 50 licenses should give county officials an opportunity to determine whether the technology actually saves employees time or improves the quality of their work before deciding whether to make AI tools more widely available throughout county government.
The agenda materials don’t spell out what safeguards will govern employees’ use of Copilot, what types of county information can be entered into the system or what measurements the county will use to determine whether the pilot program is successful or not.
They do describe Copilot as a “secure, enterprise AI assistant.”
The government version being purchased by Guilford County is different from simply allowing employees to use consumer AI services on their own; the licenses are part of Microsoft’s Government Community Cloud environment and are being added to the county’s existing enterprise Microsoft system.
Artificial intelligence tools capable of drafting documents, summarizing information, analyzing data and assisting with routine office tasks have spread quickly through private businesses over the last several years which is one reason Deputy County Manager Toy Beeninga is doing so well with his Nvidia stock.
Governments have generally moved a little more cautiously due to concerns over confidential information, data security, hallucinations and accuracy, public records laws and accountability for decisions made with the assistance of AI.
At the September 3 meeting the commissioners will also consider a separate $248,856.67 renewal of the county’s Rubrik backup and data-protection system, which supports servers and critical applications as part of the county’s disaster-recovery operations.
